Extra Credit “Your So-Called Education”

After reading the article I have to admit I am one of those students who does what I have to do to get by. I do the minimal amount of work, have a decent GPA, rarely go to class and take classes taught by professors other students have told me are easy-going (although there is a point where this is not possible anymore such as classes required to graduate or 300-level classes required for a major). I feel that a lot of this is because I look at college in a different light than most people. I plan on going to law school once I graduate and for some reason I view college as another form of high school. I feel that a lot of what I learn in college will not help me in the real world since I don’t plan on doing anything related to my major and I only need to know the material in order to do well on tests so I can have a GPA thats good enough to get me into law school. I spend more time studying for the LSATs then I do studying for any of the classes I have ever taken in college. While this obviously backfires sometimes (like with the first test in this class), it usually works out in the end. I guess this is why I haven’t learned my lesson. I do however try to take courses that I find interesting regardless of whether or not I need them to graduate (probably why I’m taking an extra semester). Its not that I don’t put in a large amount of work because I’m lazy or don’t care, its just that for some reason I don’t look at college the same way most people do.

1 response so far ↓

Hmm. You’ve got me scratching my head, Josh. I thought it was conventional wisdom that one’s college record matters if for no other reason than for grad school admission. No doubt LSATs are critical, perhaps the most critical, component of an application. But top tier schools have plenty of high scorers to choose from, so inevitably they rely on other aspects of the application (college GPA, activities, achievements, Letters of Recommendation, etc.). Today law school is such a big business that there’s a school for just about anyone with a college degree and the money to pay (or borrow). And now we have legions of newly minted JDs either unemployed or stuck in white-collar sweatshops reviewing documents, as temps, for hourly wages.

‘Enslavement via student debt’ has become a pet issue of mine, and I’ve actively been following the ‘crisis,’ including what some call the ‘law school racket.’ Researchers and more and more lawyers themselves are questioning whether the investment in a mediocre law school makes any economic sense. A slew of blogs have emerged as a place where disgruntled JDs vent their rage at being given a raw deal (e.g., Third Tier Reality, Shilling Me Softly).

I’m sure you don’t have your sights set on a ‘mediocre’ program and I trust you’ll ace the LSATs but, if you haven’t already, I urge you to read this article from the NYT Magazine: ‘Is Law School a Losing Game?’ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/business/09law.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2 And there was another stunning article in the Times a couple months ago about numbers fudging with respect to law schools’ grad placement rates and earnings.

And from Third Tier Reality: My goal is to inform potential law school students and applicants of the ugly realities of attending law school. DO NOT ATTEND UNLESS: (1) YOU GET INTO A TOP 8 LAW SCHOOL; (2) YOU GET A FULL-TUITION SCHOLARSHIP TO ATTEND; (3) YOU HAVE EMPLOYMENT AS AN ATTORNEY SECURED THROUGH A RELATIVE OR CLOSE FRIEND; OR (4) YOU ARE FULLY AWARE BEFOREHAND THAT YOUR HUGE INVESTMENT IN TIME, ENERGY, AND MONEY DOES NOT, IN ANY WAY, GUARANTEE A JOB AS AN ATTORNEY OR IN THE LEGAL INDUSTRY. http://thirdtierreality.blogspot.com/

Of course, by no means is this meant to dissuade you from attending law school. You could do worse for your future job prospects: enroll in a PhD program ;)